This NYC Grocery Store Has $5 Rotisserie Chickens, $4 Sushi, and a Loyal Neighborhood Following

Key points

• New York City grocery chain Jubilee Marketplace is run by Young Kim, its co-owner and chief executive officer, who is hyper-focused on making the store a community resource.

• Jubilee has gone viral for the shockingly low prices it offers on key items like rotisserie chicken, sushi, Atlantic salmon, and more.

• The supermarket chain also has an upstairs café and features seasonal moments like inflatable decor that make shopping at it feel fun.

Since I was big enough to sit in the children's seat at the front of the shopping cart, I have loved going to the grocery store. At a good supermarket, it's an errand that feels like an adventure. At a great supermarket, grocery shopping can become something special. In my Brooklyn, New York, neighborhood, Jubilee Marketplace delivers fun, delicious food, fair prices, and a dose of community, all in one.

The small New York City chain is co-owned by Young Kim. Kim was first connected to Jubilee as an employee. While on leave from college in 2010, he took a job as a stocker at the Jubilee Marketplace in Manhattan's Financial District. It kickstarted a passion for food shopping.

"While working there, groceries fascinated me," Kim recalls. "Everyone who shopped at the store had different items in their baskets, and I always wondered what people were making. I think it was curiosity that made me stick around."

Over the next decade, Kim climbed the ranks at Jubilee. In 2023, he became the store's chief executive officer and a co-owner, even opening its new location — at the base of a high-rise building — in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, that same year.

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As a Greenpoint resident since 2014, I can attest that the neighborhood is reluctant to welcome new developments, especially those that tower over existing buildings. People are skeptical of the retail shops that often fill the ground floors of new high-rises. These shops typically cater to tenants paying exorbitant rents, which means they may not be accessible to other people in the neighborhood. When Jubilee Marketplace expanded into the area, many locals assumed it would be out of their budget.

This bias prevented me from visiting the store until February 2024, when I needed last-minute items to host a Super Bowl party. After taking the escalator down to Jubilee's primary supermarket floor, I was greeted by several surprises: an inflatable football game, raffles I could enter to win prizes, and free samples of game-day foods. The communal atmosphere reminded me more of a suburban supermarket than the kind of grocery store you usually find in NYC.

The supermarket quickly became a destination for me — both for groceries and for fun. When we didn't have plans, I'd ask my wife, "Want to go to Jubilee?" In addition to its warm, welcoming environment, Jubilee Marketplace offers great food at reasonable prices. Kim slashed prices on 20,000 products at the Greenpoint store in 2025 after customers complained about high food costs.

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The "Five Buck Cluck," a well-seasoned, juicy rotisserie chicken that costs $5, is my go-to purchase when anyone is coming down with a cold. (I'll shred the meat for an easy chicken soup.) Jubilee's homemade salad dressings are far better than those in shelf-stable bottles, and the sushi from the fish counter is made fresh twice a day. The latter also costs less than takeout: An "omakase platter" with six different pieces of sushi costs $4.

I love browsing the ready-to-eat foods, the impressive selection of imported Southeast Asian ingredients, and what's growing in the mushroom fridge. Even if you don't need to go grocery shopping, it's worth stopping by Jubilee to try its famous $2.90 beef sliders, available in the store's upstairs café. To top it all off, there's a water fountain and a clean restroom for customers, both rarities in NYC.

"Grocery shopping can be kind of stressful, and some people look at it as a chore," says Kim. "When you're at Jubilee, I want you to enjoy your time here. Browse through the aisles, look at some of the unique or new items we just picked, and maybe enjoy a burger or a smoothie upstairs at our café. We really want to be a welcoming third space."

Kim points out that, "You probably see the people at your local grocery store more than your friends and family, so we try to welcome everyone." As part of the store's emphasis on community, it tries to incorporate shopper feedback into its inventory. Customers asked for prepared guacamole without cilantro, and it's now a store staple. Wild salmon was too expensive for some customers, so Jubilee began selling farm-raised Atlantic salmon at the seafood counter for $10 per pound.

Details like these have made Jubilee a valued addition to Greenpoint in just a few years, despite locals' potential biases. "A lot of people give me credit for the success of Jubilee, but the flowers should go to my team, the community, and everyone that has supported us through our journey," says Kim.

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